Hand seamer for cans



June 118, M35. M. M. SEDWICK HAND SEAMER FOR CANS Filed Sept. 26, 1933 2 Sheets-Sheet l JUN 11%, wgs. M SEDWEQK 2,5,M

HAND SEAMER FOR CANS Filed Sept. 26, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented June 18, 1935 UNITED. ST'I'ES rAranr orrlcs Continental Can Company, inc, New York,

N. Y., a corporation of New York.

Application September 26, 1933, Serial No. 691,054

1 Claim.

The invention relatesto new and useful improvements in a hand seamer for cans.

An object of the invention is to provide a hand seamer which is simple in construction; consist- 5 ing of few parts, and wherein adjustments may be made of the operating position of the hand lever carrying the seaming rolls so as to vary the tightness of the seam.

In the drawings which show by way of illusl tration one embodiment of the invention- Figure 1 is a plan view of the hand seamer;

Fig. 2 is a view partly in side elevation and partly in vertical section of the machine, and

Fig. 3 is a detail in plan showing more or less diagrammatically the position of the seaming rolls when moved away from the chuck to permit the chucking of a can. I

The hand seamer includes a frame consisting of spaced standards carried by a base member which is adapted to be clamped to a table or other suitable support. Connecting the upper ends of the standards is a cap bar. J ournaled in said cap bar is a shaft carrying a chuck, and cooperating with said chuck is a can support, so that the can may be chucked androtated by hand. Mounted on one of the spaced standards is a projecting arm, and pivoted on said arm is a hand operated seaming lever carrying the seaming rolls. There is means connecting the outer end of the arm to the cap bar and this means is adjustable for shifting the arm to different set angular positions on the frame for thus varying the operating position of the seaming lever.

Referring more in detail to the drawings, the hand seamer includes two spaced standards 0 and 2 which are rigidly attached to a base member 3. This base member 3 is provided with clamping brackets 4, 4 whereby said base member may be clamped to a table or other suitable support. Joining the upper ends of the standards l and 2 is acap bar 5. The standards are reduced and threaded and the cap bar has openings therethrough to receive these reduced portions so that said cap bar rests on shoulders at the upper ends of the standards. A nut E is threaded on to the upper end of the standard 2 and a nut l is threaded on to the upper end of the standard l These nuts firmly clamp the cap bar to the standards.

Mounted for rotation in the cap bar is a shaft 8. Fixed to the lower end of the shaft is a chuck 9. Also attached to the shaft just above the chuck is a bevel gear Ill. The cap bar 5 is provided with a lateral extension in which is journaled a shaft ll. Attached to the outer end of the shaft ll is a crank l2 by which the shaft may be rotated. Said shaft carries a gear l3 which meshes with the gear l0, and thus the chuck is rotated by hand. The gear 13 is much smaller in diameter than the gear l0, and there fore, the power applied to the crank is multiplied by the slower rotation imparted to the shaft 8.

Mounted on the base member 3 is a central standard It. The can support indicated at I 5 is carried by a hub sleeve #6 which slides vertically and rotates freely on the standard It. Said hub rests on a cam lever I! having a cam face E8. The standard M- is provided with a projecting pin is. The lower edge of the cam lever I"! rests on this pin, and the hub in turn rests on the cam lever. When the parts are in the position shown in Fig. 2, the cam lever has been turned so as to raise the can support and cause the can C to engage the chuck 9. When the can support is lifted to this raised position for chucking the can, the pin I9 engages the horizontal edge portion !8a of the cam lever, and this will hold the can support in raised position when the lever is released by the operator. Upon turning this lever ll so as to bring the surface l8 into contact with the pin, then the can support will be lowered and the can may be removed and replaced by. another can for another seaming operation.

Mounted on the standard I is an arm 20. Said arm is carried by a sleeve 2| This sleeve is journaled on the standard I and rests on a shoulder formed in the standard. The cap bar 5 rests on the standard and overlies the sleeve and limits the endwise movement of the sleeve H on the standard I. This arm 283 is forked at its outer end as indicated at 20a, 20a (Fig. 2). A hand operated seaming lever 22 lies between the forks 20a, 20a, and is pivoted to the arm by a pivot pin 23 which passes through the arm and the lever. Said pivot pin 23 is supported by a pin 24a which passes through this pin 23 and the upper fork 20a.

The hand operated seaming lever 22 at its inner end is forked as indicated at 22a, 22a (Fig. 2). The seaming roll 26 is mounted between the forked members 22a, 22a, and journaled on a pivot pin 27 which is threaded into the lower fork 22a. The seaming lever is provided with a lateral extension 28 which is similarly forked to receive a seaming roll 29 journaled on a pivot pin 39 extending through the forked end of the lateral extension. The arm 20 is free to be swung on its connection to the standard Attached to the pivot pin 23 by means of cotter pin 24 and washer 25 is a bracket 3| provided with an upstanding arm 32. A rod 33 is pivotally connected to the upper end of the shaft 8. This rod is threaded and extends through the arm 32 of the bracket 3i. Nuts 3% and 35 are threaded on to this rod 83 and engage the opposite faces of the arm 32. This provides a connection between the outer end of the arm 2e and the cap bar 5 which is capable of adjustment so that the arm may be shifted to different set angular positions.

In the upper face of the seaming lever 22 is a recess 36 which is curved about the center of the pivot pin 23 as a center. This recess terminates short of the side faces of the lever and the ends of the recess serve as limiting stops or abutments for controlling the swinging movement of the seaming lever. The pin 31' carried by the bracket 3! engages this recess and contacting with the ends thereof limits the extent to which the seaming lever can be manually swung. The operation of the device is thought to be obvious from the description which is given above. The seaming lever is moved to the position shown in Fig; 3, which withdraws both of the seaming rolls from seaming position so as to permit the cam with the end loosely applied thereto to be chucked ready for seaming. The seaming roll 29 is the first operation seaming roll, and the seaming roll 26 is the second-operation seaming roll. While the operator is rotating the can through the turning. of the crank E2, the seaming lever 22 is moved in a clockwise direction, as viewed in Fig. 3, untilthe seaming roll 28 contacts with the metal parts, and the roll will be gradually pressed against the parts until the first seaming operation has been completed. The pin 3'! contacting with the end of the recess will prevent the turn ing of the lever so as to carry this first seaming operation to an extreme. The seaming lever 22 is then turned in a counter-clockwise direction so as to bring the seaming roll 26 into contact with the seam for the completing of the seam. Again the pin 31 contacting with the other end of the slot will limit the movement so that the second seaming operation cannot be carried to excess. It will be noted that the seaming rolls when brought to final operative position are close to a line passing through the center of the shaft 8 and the center of the pivot pin 23, so that the maximum pressure of the seaming rolls against the metal parts may be obtained by a given pressure on the seaming lever. When it is desired to change the operating position of the seaming rolls for tightening the seam, or for operation on cans of different diameters, then. the connection including the bracket 3i and the rod 33 is either lengthened or shortened, which will shift the arm 20 to a different set angular position relative to the cap bar 5. This will move the pivot pin 23 either toward or. from the center of rotation of the chuck, and thus change the final seaming position of the seaming rolls. This makes a very simple and efiectiveway whereby the pressure of the rolls against the metal parts may be varied.

It is obvious that minor changes in the details of construction and arrangement of the parts may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention-as set forth in the appended claim.

Having. thus described'the invention, what I claim as new. anddesire to secure by Letters- Patent, is

A hand seamer comprising aframe including spaced standards, a cross bar connectingsaid standards at the top, a chuck journaledon said cross bar for rotation, a can support carried by the frame and cooperating with the chuck; an arm carried by said frame and extending sub stantially at right angles thereto, a bracket attached to the outer end of said'arm, a rod attached to the cross bar at the axis of rotation of the chuck, means for adjustably connecting the rod to the bracket wherebythe arm may be set at different angular positions relative to the cross bar, a hand-operated lever pivotally mounted for oscillation on the outer end of said arm, seeming rolls carried by said lever and disposed so that by the swinging of the lever said seaming rolls may be brought into operation, a stop member for limiting the swinging movement of the lever, said seaming rolls when operating upon the container being movable across the line passing'through the 

